Ultimatum
by Baby Morrison
Summary: [SLASH] SBRL, SSRL. When Sirius comes back from Azkaban, he and Remus rekindle their relationship, but Sirius feels threatened on all sides.


_Warning: SLASH! This means MEN having SEX. If you don't want to read about Remus Lupin and Sirius Black having sex, don't read this story. It's quite simple, really._

**Ultimatum**

Part One: Padfoot's Return

There was a dog barking outside the door to Remus' flat. He put his hand over his temples and continued cooking his dinner, hoping that he still had a headache remedy in the medicine cabinet. Then, suddenly, something clicked inside his head. He recognized that bark.

"Padfoot, what on earth are you doing here?" he muttered to himself as he opened the front door where, sure enough, a shaggy, bear-like black dog was waiting on the mat.

"Hello there, boy," he said, scratching Sirius behind his floppy ears. "Would you like to come in for a bite to eat?"

Sirius barked loudly.

"Well, alright," Remus joked. "But after that, you're going right back out!"

Sirius whined and accompanied Remus back into the flat where, after the door was latched, he transformed with a loud _pop!_

"Dumbledore told me to lie low here while he figures things out. Remus, I think he's going to revive the Order!"

"Really? Excellent. But will the Ministry...I mean, Fudge won't allow the Order to reform if he doesn't believe—"

"Who cares?" Sirius exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. "We'll operate in secret! Dumbledore's more than capable of keeping us off the Ministry's radar."

Remus sighed and handed Sirius a plate. "You know this isn't going to be fun. And _you_ will have to stay hidden, or else on the move."

"Yeah, well..." he shrugged, sitting down at the table and tucking in. "So," he said thickly between bites. How the hell have you been? We didn't exactly get a chance to catch up last year, and I could only risk an owl every so often and, well..." Sirius shifted uncomfortably, flushing slightly.

"Don't worry," Remus said, placing his hand over Sirius'. "Believe me, I know that Harry comes first. I would have been disappointed if you had missed an opportunity to write to him because of me. You're here now, and we have plenty of time to catch up."

Sirius looked down at their hands. Raising his eyebrows, he posed a silent question. It had been years since they had been together; their mutual suspicion of one another in the months leading up to James and Lily's murder had broken them up rather violently, and yet, here, after fourteen and a half years, they were holding hands. Did Remus mean to open up the possibility again? Sirius decided to see. He turned his hand over under Remus' and squeezed. Remus released Sirius' hand and pulled him in for a slow, sweet kiss.

Sirius gasped—his first kiss in almost fifteen years. He had always thought that all that stuff about electricity coursing through your body during a kiss was a bunch of bullshit worthy only of the pages of _Witch Weekly's_ romance section. No. The phenomenon was decidedly confirmed. One needed only go fourteen and a half years without so much as a peck on the cheek and then come home and share a passionate, spur-of-the-moment kiss with his once-lover/only remaining friend. Boom. Instant electricity. The only problem was the electricity traveled straight from his lips to more...sensitive areas. Remus didn't seem to mind. He pulled Sirius from the chair up onto his feet, pushed him into the adjoining living room, and then down on to the well-worn sofa, climbing on top of him. Remus broke their kiss to gasp, "I you don't want to—"

"Are you crazy?" Sirius laughed. "Do I look like I don't want to? Come on."

Sirius sat up, maneuvering Remus onto his back on the sofa, pulling off both of their robes and tossing them carelessly onto the floor.

Remus was just as scrawny as he remembered, although he was careful to remind himself that he wasn't looking much better, these days. However, the look on Remus' face—parted lips, flushed cheeks and half-lidded, sparkling eyes—erased all traces of self-consciousness. He grabbed Remus by the back of the neck and crushed their lips together again. As they kissed, Remus slid his hands to Sirius' hips and pulled them down against his own. Sirius groaned, curling his fist around a handful of Remus' hair. After a few more kisses and the maddening friction of their cocks grinding together with the pushes of their hips, Remus splayed his legs, opening himself to his lover. Sirius reached over to Remus' discarded robe, pulled out his wand, and handed it to him.

Understanding, Remus cast a charm which left a slick liquid coating his left hand. He took Sirius' cock and stroked up from the base all the way to the head, which he oiled with a swipe of his thumb.

Sirius let out a sharp breath, and Remus felt a few hot, slick droplets mingling with the oil. He trailed his thumb down the underside, feeling Sirius' pulse in his swollen veins.

Remus fell back, closing his eyes and relaxing his muscles, steadying his breathing.

Gasping harshly, Sirius pushed in, bracing himself against the sudden, intense contractions of Remus' muscles.

Remus hissed softly, his brow knitting with discomfort. It took what little self-control Sirius had to stay still while Remus got used to him, but he waited until he stopped holding his breath and drew up his knees before slowly pulling out to just inside the inner-most ring of muscle. And then in again, deeper than before. Sliding his hands down Sirius' back, Remus sighed and tipped his hips up towards the other man's slow, measured thrusts.

Sirius angled up, as well; Remus groaned and bit into his shoulder.

"Careful, love," Sirius whispered, nuzzling Remus' face away from his shoulder and kissing him. After that, he quickened his pace. Remus began bucking up to meet him, crying out with every thrust. They clung to each other, panting and whimpering. Remus came first, digging his nails into Sirius' shoulder-blades and arching his back. Sirius followed soon after, his eyes shut tight and his fists balling around the sofa's upholstery. Breathing heavily, they collapsed together, Remus on his back and Sirius facing him, his head resting on Remus' shoulder and his hand spread over his chest. Remus inhaled deeply, drawing in the salty scent of sweat and semen that was thick in the air.

"Let's have a bath," he said, pushing Sirius up and getting to his feet.

Sirius nodded and followed Remus down the narrow hallway into a tiny bathroom.

Remus tapped the faucet, which began to spout steaming, bubbly water, with his wand.

Sirius got into the tub immediately, but Remus rummaged around in the medicine cabinet. He uncorked one small bottle, took a swig, and handed Sirius another, larger bottle.

"That should take the grime off of you. When was the last time you took a proper bath?"

Sirius grinned sheepishly and asked, "You mean indoors?"

"Never mind."

"What was that potion you took?" Sirius asked.

Remus blushed deeply. "Oh, that. It—erm...well, it...calms my sex drive."

Sirius stared at him. "You don't think I could keep up with you anymore, do you?"

"No, it's not—well, it's just that...it's gotten quite a bit worse since the last time we were together." Remus smirked mischievously. "Although, being almost constantly unemployed has been convenient between bottles of that potion."

Sirius chuckled and beckoned Remus to the tub. Remus got in behind him and poured some of the cleaning potion into his hair.

"I'm really quite curious to see what you look like under all this filth," Remus teased, lathering the potion and rubbing the suds over Sirius' back and shoulders. As he worked out the knots in his lover's muscles, there was a bang from outside.

"That doesn't sound like the door," Remus said, getting out of the tub and wrapping a towel around his waist. "Transform. And stay in here," he told Sirius as he opened the door and went out into the living-room.

Sirius did as he was told and listened through the paper-thin walls. Within seconds, he heard an unpleasantly familiar voice.

"Yes, well, your mantle was a bit lower than I remembered," the voice said.

Remus called down the hall, "It's alright, Sirius. It's only Severus. You can come out."

_Only_ Severus? That was almost as bad as if it had been _only_ He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Sirius didn't bother to change back before bounding into the living room where Remus was buttoning up his robes and Snape was staring resolutely at the floor.

"Come now, Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, "I said you could transform back!"

Sirius changed from a very wet dog to a very wet, very naked man with a _pop!_

"Sorry 'bout that," he said, addressing Snape, "but my clothes were in here and Remus had the only bath towel." With a vicious grin, Sirius dressed rather quickly and threw himself down onto the sofa, carefully avoiding the sticky spot Remus had left on it, but doing nothing to hide it—or the fact that they had been bathing together. "So," Sirius said in falsely chipper tones, "What brings you here, Sniv- er...Snape?"

Snape ignored him, and instead addressed Remus. "I've brought you your potion for this month. There should be enough. Remember to take it warm, every night starting tomorrow."

"Thank you, Severus," said Remus. The thanks sounded genuine, but there was a slightly icy edge to it that Sirius only caught because he had been, on occasion, on the receiving end of it.

Snape's eyes flickered almost imperceptibly over Sirius, and he said evenly, "May I have a private word, Remus?"

"I'll be in the bedroom, darling," Sirius said in what might have been a casual voice had he been able to unclench his teeth. He closed the bedroom door behind him and pressed his ear to the wall adjoining with the living room.

"So," said Snape in a quiet voice that sounded almost hurt, "you and Black have...?"

Remus replied miserably, "God, Severus, I don't even know. We really haven't talked about it. He could want a commitment, but there is always the chance that he might just have been desperate. It had to have been fourteen years since the last time, unless he found occasion in the last year."

"By the way he acts, I would assume that he did not," said Snape. Sirius had the uncomfortable feeling that he had his arm around Remus.

There were a few seconds of silence before Snape said, "I was under the impression that we were only having a fight. Had I known that you would run off with Black, I might have come to apologize sooner."

Remus laughed quietly. "I'm sorry, Severus. I took your telling the entire school about my condition as a subtle way of breaking up with me. I assumed I was right, since, until now, you've sent my potions without so much as a note."

"You can imagine," said Snape stiffly, as if he were admitting something embarrassing, "how I regret that now. I let my emotions, my jealousy and feelings of...betrayal, I suppose, control me."

"You?" Remus scoffed, "Never! I could have sworn you were the iconic heartless bastard."

Sirius did _not_ like the smile he heard in Remus' voice.

"I should go, Remus. Remember to take your potion."

Sirius waited until he heard the tell-tale _whoosh_ of floo powder in the fireplace before coming out into the living room.

"You were _with_ that bastard?!" he found himself shouting before Remus could say anything. "How long? The whole time I was in prison? I'll bet the two of you had a right little laugh over that! Me, rotting away with the dementors while you were all shacked up! How long did it take you? Were you with him the night I was arrested? Or were you already fucking before that?!"

"Sirius, calm down," Remus pleaded wearily.

"No!" exclaimed Sirius, picking a vase up off of a shelf and throwing it so that it smashed on the wall just above Remus' head, splashing him with stagnant water and scattering dead flowers over the couch. "I'm not going to fucking well calm down! Here I thought that you had held out for me, waited for me, but you didn't! You didn't even try! And on top of that, you've been fucking _Snape_! Out of all the people, you pick him! Don't you remember how he treated us?"

"Yes, Sirius," Remus shouted in the strained tones of one who has rarely ever spoke above a polite murmur, rising to his feet, "I remember very well how he, and you and James treated _one another_ at school. And, for your information, it took me seven years to come to terms with the fact that I would never see you again. I developed a relationship with Severus because we had a lot in common. And I felt I could trust him not to expect too much of me. When you broke out of Azkaban, our relationship became strained. I was entertaining the delusion that I might be able to reform you. Severus, gifted as he is at understanding people, knew what was troubling me and warned the headmaster that if you contacted me and asked for help entering the castle, I might give it to you."

"And then when the stupid git found us in the shack, he thought he was right!" said Sirius triumphantly.

"And so, also assumed, I suppose, that you and I were together again." Remus' voice was calm now, no longer harsh or angry.

"But we weren't."

"I know," said Remus pointedly. "You and I had not been together since September of 1981."

Sirius sighed. "Yeah, I get your point. It was stupid to expect you to go without just because I had to. But just so you know, I don't want to be with you just because I'm desperate. I didn't say this at the shack for obvious reasons, but you were one of the things that kept me going in Azkaban."

Remus raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Your memories of me were not happy?"

"Just the ones where we were fighting. 'Cause fighting with you always meant a mind-blowing shag later."

Remus smirked. "Well, then," he said, a bit of the boy who had once been Moony showing through, "far be it from me to break with tradition."


End file.
